While most people are excitedly going about their Christmas shopping and planning their Noche Buena feasts, there are those out there who are less than merry. Whatever the reason may be—no loved ones to spend time with, bad memories of Christmases past (true to Scrooge form), or deeply ingrained anti-commercial sentiments—if you’re low on Christmas spirit this year (or all the time), you can still get through the holidays without getting into a depressed funk and dragging everyone down with you. You might even find a little something to enjoy about the season. Check out these five ways to spend a meaningful holiday without feeling like you’ve sold out:
Take a trip. Go somewhere you’ve never been before—try a tourist hotspot you’ve been (Scroogily) avoiding all year because of the crowds, preferably one that has a culture that doesn’t celebrate this particular holiday. Many people (though not all) prefer to stay home for the holidays—that means you won’t have to fight for your corner of the beach or push and shove to see the statues or ruins you always wanted to visit. Not sure where you want to go? Go to LakbayPilipinas.com for local destinations or, if you’re willing to look further than the Philippine Isles, check out these 1,001 Vacation Ideas, with suggestions for whatever kind of trip you want to take (cheap, romantic, adventurous, or what have you).
Go on staycation. You don’t need to leave town to go sightseeing or take advantage of the reduced crowds in normally overfull places. You can also go to theme parks like Enchanted Kingdom or the Manila Ocean Park. Most parks are open all year round, particularly during holidays—and this may be your last chance to catch the Mermaid Show at the Manila Ocean Park, which ends on December 30. For the true Scrooges among you, staycations have the advantage of not costing anything in the way of lodgings and transport. You can also go super low-budget and be a couch potato: buy, rent, or borrow movies or TV show seasons you’ve been meaning to watch (try our feel-good Christmas flick picks and see if you don’t get even a little touched), or veg out on video games—there’s nothing that relieves holiday stress more than getting online and kicking some whiny teenager’s but from here to January.
Work. In true Scrooge fashion, you can always take advantage of the holiday differential and work, work, work! If your boss is looking for people who can come in over the holidays, why don’t you volunteer? Your officemates will be glad they won’t be forced to, you’ll get to earn some extra cash, and your boss will appreciate your dedication (think of how good this will look on your next performance review). Apart from that, the number of vacationers will mean your office will most likely be running on a skeleton crew, and the peace and quiet will mean you’ll get lots of work done.
Shop. By not splurging on Christmas gifts for family and friends (or frienemies if you don’t have any actual friends, given your Scrooge-like tendencies), you get to keep a lot of that moolah for yourself. That means that you get more bang for your buck if you indulge yourself in a shopping spree over the holidays—think of how much you’ll save by taking advantage of the post-Christmas sales!
Offer emergency holiday services. About midway through the holidays, you’re sure to have some friends quickly running through their reserves of Christmas cheer. Offer to serve as their excuse to get out of the house (they can claim they’re doing a good deed by keeping a lonely soul company). Let them vent about their evil in-laws or their oblivious parents. Give yourself a pat on the back for pretending you’d never heard of Santa Claus.
If you’re starting to feel guilty about not having enough holiday cheer to go around, don’t—blaming yourself will only make things worse, and will just add another unpleasant feeling to your holiday repertoire. Remember that you can still enjoy Christmas without going through the traditional (and, for you, stress-inducing) activities, and try to focus on making each day a good day—whatever season it may be.
For more tips on getting through the season to be merry when you’d really have more ho-ho-hos if you just stabbed Santa with a candy cane, check out eHow’s article on how to survive the holidays when you hate Christmas.
(Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures)
C'mon, admit it--are you a scrooge? How do you deal with all the holiday activities without biting other people's heads off? Leave a comment below or talk it up with other GIRLTalkers on our forum!
